China Three Gorges seeks buyer for EDPR's US assets - report

EDPR wind park in the US. Source: EDPR. License: All rights reserved.

June 27 (Renewables Now) - China Three Gorges Corp is looking for a European party willing to buy the US renewable energy assets of takeover target Energias de Portugal SA (ELI:EDP), Reuters reports, quoting three sources.

The Chinese state-owned utility wants to acquire Portuguese utility EDP and its renewables arm, EDP Renovaveis SA (ELI:EDPR), but fears a potential intervention from US authorities as EDPR has a substantial business in the US.

According to banking sources quoted by Reuters, China Three Gorges has held discussions on the matter with European peers such as Italy’s Enel SpA (BIT:ENEL), Spain’s Iberdrola (BME:IBE) and France’s Engie SA (EPA:ENGI), as well as E.on SE (ETR:EOAN) and RWE AG (ETR:RWE) of Germany. The insiders, however, have noted that only Engie is interested in EDPR’s US business, while Enel is satisfied with its own assets there and the two German utilities are focused on splitting up Innogy SE (ETR: IGY) between themselves.

The US assets of EDPR are worth some EUR 6.7 billion (USD 7.77bn) and include 4,382 MW of wind power capacity, the article says.

Earlier this week, Engie responded to speculation by saying it is not getting ready to launch a takeover bid for shares issued by EDPR, but admitted it is “constantly assessing investment opportunities”.